The backup quarterback is seldom a thought — until you need a rescue. Denver's Brock Osweiler is the backup. He is ignored. So is Seattle backup Tarvaris Jackson. But Osweiler knows he is one play away — the backup's golden cliché — from being required to resuscitate the Broncos. He is an instant away from being asked to take a traumatic moment and turn things orange once again.

"Peyton has had an amazing season, he has incredible numbers and he has led us to the Super Bowl," Osweiler said. "And now that we are in it, everybody has to play to expectations to get the result we want. That includes me. If I am called on, I have to do things to be the quarterback expected. I can't necessarily play like him, but that doesn't mean I can't produce. I've prepared for a moment like this all of my life."

He is 23. He is a second-year quarterback from Arizona State who left school as a junior. He has played in nine NFL games and thrown 20 passes.

Not much work.

Not much time.

"Hard work always beats talent, I believe," Osweiler said. "You earn what you get in this league and you take what you want."

Osweiler has confidence that matches his stature — he is a towering 6-foot-8, 240-pound quarterback.

The Broncos drafted him in part because of his size, but also because of his steady assurance.

His coaches have said little to nothing to him about getting ready or being ready for the Super Bowl.

Brock Osweiler: "No one had to say a word to me this week about being ready because I take great pride in being ready." (John Leyba, Denver Post file)

Denver offensive coordinator Adam Gase explained that this way: "This is not the kind of guy that you have to worry about in that area. He is intelligent. He works hard. He is a former basketball player who was a serious gym rat. Those kinds of guys stay ready. He won't get much reps. He has to figure things out from whatever he does get in practice. If the worse situation happened with Peyton, I know a lot of the things that Brock does well. I know what he likes. It would be up to us to put him in the best possible position."

In a typical Broncos practice, Osweiler said that the offense runs 60 to 70 plays. Some days he gets 0. Some days he might get eight to 10. "And a lot of those might be running plays," he said.

He and the backup-to-the -backup, rookie Zac Dysert, get most of their work as quarterback vs. the Broncos defense.

Osweiler is a take-it-home quarterback.

"I use the playbook, the iPad, everything at home to study, because in this game the more you know the schemes, audibles and offense like the back of your hand, the more your skill can come out," Osweiler said. "Things happen in football sometimes in a millisecond. You've got to be ready. My girlfriend, Erin Costales, even helps me out. She will read off a play to me like it is coming through my helmet from the coaches. I spit it back out like I am saying it in the huddle. The idea is think faster. Play faster."

Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler, left, scrambles out of the pocket during a preseason game Aug. 24 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Osweiler said the Broncos on Saturday night before the Super Bowl would meet between 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. He figured he would get into his room between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m — "That is shutoff time; I really shut off the world right then," he said. Depending on how he slept, he planned to awake at 7 a.m.; all players would be up by 9 a.m. "Get a good breakfast in me then," he said. "I eat with balance, but I eat a little bit of everything." Get to the stadium early. Get ready. Stay ready.

"I have had a great relationship with Peyton since Day One," Osweiler said. "He has gone out of his way to show me how to be a professional in this league, and I thank him for that. I have been watching him, ears open, eyes wide-open, taking notes. I watch how he conducts his business. How he speaks to the media. There is no greater blueprint for it.

"No one had to say a word to me this week about being ready because I take great pride in being ready. That's a commitment you make to the team and to the offense. That is how you win a championship."

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